Minneapolis, MN – National liberation movements around the world are morning the Oct. 4 passing of General Vo Nguyen Giap who, along with Ho Chi Minh, was one of the main leaders of Vietnam’s fight to free itself from Japanese, French and finally U.S. domination.

With news of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s death today, the working class of Britain and the world should not mourn. Working people should take solace in the fact that after so many years of attacks on the working class that the British politician who instigated mass privatizations, cutbacks to public services, the student loan system and breaking unions has now passed into history. Margaret Thatcher set an example that Ronald Reagan followed. They both waged wars on much smaller countries and funded and trained death squads to attempt to defeat national liberation movements. Thatcher also set the standard for torture of political prisoners and liberation fighters that the U.S. would follow.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following letter that Freedom Road Socialist Organization conveyed to the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the passing of President Hugo Chavez.

Jenni Rivera was truly a CHICANA Mexican regional music star (even sang it out loud in a song) representing the LBC (Long Beach City), homies, single-moms and homegirls from across Cali, the Southwest and the Americas.

Revolutionary activist and scholar Joel Olson passed away on March 29, 2012. He was 45 years old. His passing came as a shock to friends and comrades and as word spread there was an outpouring of grief and memories on facebook. A fund was quickly set up to support his wife and three children. Memorials are planned for his home of Flagstaff, Arizona, as well as New York and other cities where he had close friends and comrades.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by Freedom Road Socialist Organization of the passing of Ernesto Bustillos

Brother Ray Sosa was a Chicano Los Angeles community organizer and revolutionary who dedicated his entire life to the struggle to achieve justice, equality and liberation for working and oppressed peoples.

La Organización Socialista Camino de Libertad (Freedom Road Socialist Organization) lamenta el fallecimiento del líder palestino Yacer Arafat (1929 – 2004). Expresamos nuestro pesar por la sensible perdida de un luchador por la libertad que trabajo incansablemente por la emancipación de Palestina.

Raul Reyes, a leading member of the FARC – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – was killed by the U.S. backed Colombian government March 1. Fight Back! asked Jess Sundin, who traveled to Colombia and met with Raul Reyes, to give her impressions of him and to speak about the significance of his slaying. Sundin is a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and an important leader in Minnesota’s peace and justice movement.

His spirit and work will live forever

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Freedom Road Socialist Organization on the murder of Raul Reyes.

'A message to the people of the United States'

The following is a video interview of Raul Reyes, given in July, 2000. It was filmed by Jess Sundin, a Colombia solidarity activist and a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The following is a English translation of a few excerpts from Raul Reyes statement, which is in Spanish.

We are saddened by the death of Manuel Marulanda, commander in chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP). At the same time, we are inspired by the powerful example of his life and work. Marulanda embodied the struggle of the Colombian people for national liberation and socialism. He was both a Colombian patriot and an internationalist – a persistent advocate for a united Latin America free from domination by U.S. imperialism. Marulanda was a Great Liberator, in the tradition of the Simon Bolivar.

San José, CA -El pasado 15 de febrero unas doscientas personas se dieron cita en el Templo Budista de San José para rememorar la orden ejecutiva 9066, del entonces Presidente Roosevelt, por la cual más de 120,000 japoneses-americanos fueron enviados a campos de concentración.

By Staff

As we go to press, we have received word that Laurent Kabila, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been murdered. As we see it, this is a tragedy. Africa has lost another one of its freedom fighters.

San Jose, CA – A standing ovation greeted Maha El Genaidi’s denouncement of “Bush’s secret government of oil barons and multinational corporations,” as she blasted the attacks on Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians at the annual Day of Remembrance program. The theme of the program was “Race Prejudice, War Hysteria, and a Failure of Political Leadership,” and it made the connection between the World War II internment of Japanese Americans into concentration camps and today’s attacks on civil liberties as the U.S. government wages war on Iraq.

San Jose, CA – More than 200 people gathered at the Buddhist Church in San Jose's Japantown, Feb. 17, for the annual Day of Remembrance program. For more than twenty years, the Japanese American community has commemorated President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, which led to the removal of 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes on the west coast, and forced their imprisonment in U.S. concentration camps during World War II.

Fight Back! conveys the following news with great regret: